PERC 2010 Abstract Detail Page

Flat as a pancake: a pseudo-longitudinal study of attitudes and beliefs at the University of Edinburgh using CLASS

Abstract:

We present an extensive 'snapshot' survey of student attitudes and beliefs towards the study of physics in the UK, using the CLASS instrument. Data was gathered from a wide range of respondents, from students in their final year of high school prior to university admission, through the range of undergraduate levels at the University of Edinburgh, postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty, with a total sample size of N=638.

Our data indicates a statistically significant increase in the proportion of expert-like responses only at major transitions: those between school and university and the upper undergraduate-postgraduate transition. Both of these increases may be due to strong selection effects. By contrast, the extent to which student attitudes and beliefs change during the course of their undergraduate study (typically 4 years) is much less, with no significant changes between the first and final years of students studying undergraduate degrees.